http://mmajunkie.comLAS VEGAS – Once Gian Villante started swinging, Trevor Smith was in for a short night.

Villante caught a kick, forced the fight to the mat, and then battered his light-heavyweight opponent win a quick barrage of punches and hammerfists to force referee Kim Winslow’s intervention just 65 seconds into the bout.

The preliminary-card fight was part of “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine” and aired on Showtime Extreme. It took place at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and preceded the night’s Showtime-televised main card.

After some fighting from close quarters in the first round, Villante caught one of Smith’s kicks. He returned fire with a punch, forced the fight to the mat, and then rained down a dozen punches as Smith was trapped on his side against the mat. With his head pinned against the cage, each punch landed with a thud (perhaps some illegally to the back of the head), and it wasn’t clear if Smith was able to protect himself because of the awkward position.

Perhaps erring on the side of caution, Winslow jumped into the halt the bout, even as Smith continued fighting to get back to his feet. Once he realized the fight had been stopped, he was obviously disappointed, though the stoppage could be justified.

“It took me a second to get going out there,” Villante said. “I knew he was hurt when he went for the desperation shot. Once I got him to side mount and kept throwing I was able to flatten him out and finish.”

Smith was harder on himself than the ref.

“Silly, silly, silly,” he said. “I should have been able to reverse him. I almost had a figure-four. (But I) just felt it was a bad stoppage. I’ll be back.”

Villante (9-3 MMA, 2-2 SF), who opened his Strikeforce career with losses to notables Chad Griggs and Lorenz Larkin, has now evened his Strikeforce record at 2-2. Smith (9-2 MMA, 2-1 SF) snaps a streak of five straight wins via stoppage.

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